Gray Television nixes O.J. faux confessional

Public outrage over O.J. Simpson's upcoming book,If I Did It, and a FOX interview with the former football star acquitted of murdering his wife spills to the local airwaves. Gray Television, parent company of WAHU FOX27, announces today that it will not air the controversial Juice interview by publisher Judith Regan November 27 and 29. No word on what alternative programming will be scheduled, but presumably it will be tamer, less inflamatory FOX fare. Viewers unable to avert their eyes from the Simpson train wreck can still catch the interview on WTTG Channel 5 in Washington, which is owned by FOX.

3:55pm UPDATE: Roger Burchett, general manager of the local Gray stations, calls the O.J. special "a rehash of a 10-year-old murder" and "a two-hour infomercial to help somebody sell books."

4:10pm UPDATE: Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. company owns both HarperCollins publishing and FOX-TV, announces that both the O.J. Simpson If I Did It TV special and book have been cancelled. "I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project," he tells Fox News (also a News Corp. company). Fox News also notes that a dozen Fox affiliates had refused to air the controversial Simpson interview this evening.